“With no more strength than there is in a bundle of sticks, I tried to dance, to dance the dance of the long-legged birds who lived in the shallows. I danced it because I could not think of anything more beautiful. A person cannot be afraid of being foolish. For everything, every gesture is sacred.”
–Barry Lopez
River Notes: The Dance of Herons
“Drought”
Everything is spirit.
You are the medicine.
I’ve been repeating this phrase to myself in early morning, starting my day with thoughts I want to carry through the rest of it.
Change begins with me. I am the medicine. You are the medicine.
It’s a practice, and one that pushes back on the dominant narrative these days. There’s an assumption that in order to make change we have to scream, fight, insult, and make grand gestures.
When I think back on times in my life, I notice that throughout, even when times were really hard, my life still contained so much beauty and kinship. And often when I needed help, someone to throw me a rescue line, my community supported me. My most poignant and inspiring memories are not the ones in which I defeated someone in a contest or won something, but rather when I was held and supported by my community, family, and environment and when I was able to offer support.
I’m thinking of one time, when I was in college and needed a place to live and couldn’t afford brick and mortar digs. A friend helped me find a spot to set up a camp on their friend’s place that bordered Forest Service land. This camp was about 8 miles from campus and I would ride my bike to town through every weather condition northern Arizona had to to throw down. After classes, after a luxurious hot shower in the University gym, after work, I’d hop on my bike and return to my spot, on the edge of a large meadow . Even through my exhaustion I felt grateful for my home. It was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever lived.
One night I heard a strange, eerie noise. Having no idea what it was, I cautiously peeked outside and saw Elk hanging out! I had never seen an Elk close-up, let alone a group of them, let alone heard them bugle. It was a sound that spoke to a deep-time connection and shared understanding among species on Earth. It was a sound that went all the way through me. The clear stars around us, the sweet fragrance of the meadow, the cold night – I was struck by the beauty of it – with the way my connection to place, people and my own strength came together in such a magnificent way. Even though times were challenging, that period of my life was magic, and my openness to seeing and feeling that magic may have been what brought me to the home of the elk. When I think about that time now, I am once again reminded that when we are connected, living in our uniqueness and strength, there is no single day we live that can possibly be incidental.
With today’s constant barrage of loud news clips, I practice paying attention to the inputs I receive. Everything we take in carves pathways in our brains. While it’s important to be informed, it’s also critical to be able to access the call of an Elk in your bones. Whatever that moment might be for you, I encourage you to call it up frequently and listen to it. We have an opportunity – a duty, perhaps – to explore how what’s being normalized doesn’t have to be our norm. We have an opportunity to heal what’s broken. We have an opportunity to get our weary bodies up and dance because we are the medicine and …everything, every gesture is sacred.
We are the medicine.
In love and solidarity,
The CDE Team
Here at CDE, we have long based our work on the practice of connection, understanding that every action we take builds a stronger, more loving community. With that in mind, we have a couple of new offerings that will help our community connect more deeply and build new norms together:
Kinship Gatherings: Starting in April, these will be once per month spaces for CDE family (alum, staff, partners) to meet, connect, refresh old relationships and weave new webs. The agenda for Kinship Gatherings is loose, but the objective is clear: together we will remember our collective power and community. We will recharge; we will find shoulders to rest on and offer our own as resting places. We will laugh, tell stories, make connections and plant seeds of beautiful change. Please be on the lookout for specific dates coming soon. Learn more and sign up
In Their Own Words: An ongoing informal, curated, virtual series that invites stories from the CDE community. While the first phase focused on personal stories prompted by specific terminology relevant to CDE’s work, over the coming months we plan to expand the ways folks can participate – from stories to songs, recipes, poems, conversations, visual art, jokes…the sky’s the limit! CDE can provide prompts or idea-generating chats if desired. We welcome work in need of editing as well as work intended to be published as-is. Please contact ITOW@cdeinspires.org if you are interested in sharing your story or other work.
Remember: You have the ability to rewrite the script. You have the ability to move in nonviolent ways and demonstrate that love, compassion, collective liberation, and a kinship with all species will create the change. We are the medicine. Together, we must strengthen a movement that moves a whole new way of being and doing.